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The Making of Silent Hill 3
Written
by
Parjay
=============================================================
No part of this transcript may be reproduced without express
written permission from myself. You can contact me at the
Silent Hill 3 message boards at GameFAQ's if you are requesting
to use this transcript, or have comments and/or corrections.
(C) 2003 Parjay
=============================================================
SPOILER WARNING! PLEASE BE CAREFUL, IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING
THAT THIS GUIDE CONTAINS SERIOUS SPOILERS FOR THE GAME.
=== VERSION HISTORY ===
06/06/03 - v1.01 First Version!
17/06/03 - v1.02 Some grammar and spelling, also added
English translations of the French
chapter titles.
26/08/10 - v1.03 Contact and layout changed
=== C O N T E N T S ===
PART ONE - Frequently Asked Questions
PART TWO - The Transcript
PART THREE - Thanks
=== F R E Q U E N T L Y A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S ===
Q: Where can I get the "Making of Silent Hill 3"?
A: At the moment the only place you can get the full
feature is on the magazine "Playstation World" (PSW).
The "Making Of" is featured on the free DVD. This is
a U.K. only magazine, and is issue number 43.
Addendum: Seven years later, it's obvously now
easy to find this documentary on YouTube etc.
Q: Did FUN TV produce this "Making Of"?
A: No, unlike the "Making of SH2", WE PRODUCTIONS created
this feature for SH3. However, much of the same team
that created the previous feature for Fun TV, worked
on this one.
=== T H E T R A N S C R I P T ===
FADE IN:
TITLE SEQUENCE
Red tinted frame, on the soundtrack a baby is crying against
a harsh, horrific sound effect. Captions appear:
KONAMI & WE PRODUCTIONS
PRESENT
On the soundtrack, a familiar voice speaks:
LISA GARLAND
... that child alive?!
The image of Heather's actress fades in on the left frame as she
looks toward camera, while a montage of images and their
captions appear on the right:
ILLUMINATION The image of a script page.
CREATION A pencil sketch of Heather Morris' face.
EMOTION Akira Yamaoka playing guitar.
Heather Morris appears, turns and looks at camera before
fading away to the feature title:
S I L E N T H I L L 3
Naissance d'une Renaissance
(Birth to Rebirth)
FADE INTO
GAME FOOTAGE: Heather Morris awakens in a cafe.
HIROYUKI OWAKU
In this sequence, which takes place at
the beginning of the game, the color of
the sunset is redder than it is in
reality. This is the way of telling the
player, right from the start, that in
Silent Hill 3, something "red" is waiting
for him.
-----------------------
C H A P T E R O N E
La Genese
(Genesis)
-----------------------
MONTAGE: Aerial view of SH3 development team offices, and
various shots of staff working at their computers. The
narrator speaks over this (note: same guy as Making of SH2).
NARRATOR
This orange-red alludes to the Autumn
season in which the first sketches of
Silent Hill 3 were made. This was back
in the Autumn of 2001, just a few days
after the release of Silent Hill 2. The
team was in the middle of the creative
phase. Fortunately the script, written
by the script-writer who wrote Silent
Hill 2 was ready. The team was working
on a key Silent Hill component: Fear.
GAME FOOTAGE: Heather is attacked by a giant monster.
The script-writer is interviewed at his workstation.
HIROYUKI OWAKU
The feeling of fear prevailing in Silent
Hill 3 differs from that Silent Hill 2.
In Silent Hill 2 we tried to create a
sense of fear sustained by silence.
That silence lying within each individual
which is progressively transformed into
anxiety. It was a kind of fear that
built up little by little. Gradually it
escalated into horror.
GAME FOOTAGE: From Silent Hill II. James has just defeated the
two Pyramid Head's near the end of the game.
HIROYUKI OWAKU (CONT'D)
For Silent Hill 3, a different approach
was used. We wanted to create a more
violent, direct feeling of fear.
GAME FOOTAGE: Heather repulsed in elevator.
HIROYUKI OWAKU (CONT'D)
Something shocking, to contrast with the
atmosphere in the previous title.
GAME FOOTAGE: Heater enters an elevator in the alternate shopping
mall.
NARRATOR
This decision guided each member of the
team. Just as it was decided to impose
that blood red color at the beginning of
the game, the art director in charge of
creating monsters used strong symbols to
raise player anxiety.
The Art Director is interviewed. He points out features and
details on his monitor display of one of the monsters from
the game.
MASAHIRO ITO
The dog wrapped in strips is the first
monster that you encounter in the game.
This is a way of telling the player, that
he is entering a hellish world. These
dogs will be taken universally as a
reference to the watchdogs of Hell,
especially with that jaw cut in half.
That's the idea behind this design.
NARRATOR
It's the same for the set.
MONTAGE: Various locations in game, and their real life
counterparts that they were based on.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
As usual the set crew worked on ways of
producing a realistic effect. But this
time they wanted to find a new idea that
would take the game player by surprise.
GAME FOOTAGE: Heater enters a hallway. The walls begin to
pulse and bleed with blood.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
This effect makes the sets come alive,
like these walls that bleed, or burn. Or
these floors that swarm. A concept
that's inherently obvious and yet,
you've never seen it before.
Interview with Main Programmer, Yukinori Ojina. On the
monitor behind him, we can see the various bleeding walls,
burning, and swarming floor effects in-game.
YUKINORI OJINA
In the video game industry, this was a
first, especially in real-time.
NARRATOR
As with most of these technical
challenges the Silent Hill team didn't
forget that the most important thing is
to immerse the player in a credible
world, even if that meant using pretty
basic methods.
CLOSE UP: Chapel Map, drawn in large bright crayons,
obviously a child's scrawl.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
If that strange looking map you can see
in the background looks realistic, it's
because ...
Yasunori Kanetake, Set Designer. On the monitor, we can see
the chapel map.
YASUNORI KANETAKE
It was really drawn by a child. I think
he's about five years old. He's the son
of a friend of one of the designers.
MONTAGE: of the main characters featured in Silent Hill 3.
NARRATOR
Luckily, when it comes to character
design, the creators of Silent Hill don't
have to turn to pre-schoolers. They can
rely on the most talented of their
artists.
------------------------
C H A P T E R T W O
Et Dieu crea la Femme
(And God Created Woman)
------------------------
MONTAGE: Heather walking against a white background, music
track "You're Not Here" playing in the background.
NARRATOR
For the first time the KCET team chose
to have us feature a heroine, Heather. A
young girl that above all, they saw as
"innocent", the first sketches are
evidence of this.
MONTAGE: Some early sketches of Heather. All featuring an
innocent, angelic face, and long flowing hair.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
But they found this design a bit to
"nice" so the supervising illustrator
went elsewhere for his inspiration.
Interview with the supervising illustrator, Character
Designer Shingo Yuri.
SHINGO YURI
I based this character on Sophie Marceau
and Charlotte Gainsbourg
CLOSE-UPS: on several sketches featuring these two people.
NARRATOR
But Yuri wasn't the only one thinking
about the characters.
MONTAGE: of two women as they work on their computers,
digitally drawing Heather Morris' face. One of the women
examines her own lips in a mirror as she draws the details
onto Heather's.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
Two young women where working with him,
and sometimes there was a clash in
feminine and masculine thinking, but not
in a way you might imagine.
SHINGO YURI
As far as Heather's clothes were
concerned, I saw her wearing jeans.
MONTAGE: Various development sketches of Heather, wearing
jeans.
SHINGO YURI (CONT'D)
But the female members of our team saw
things differently. They thought Heather
ought to show her legs, it would be more
feminine and look prettier. They
convinced me.
MONTAGE: More development sketches of Heather, this time
with her legs showing. Most are mini-skirts, one has Heather
sporting purple tights.
NARRATOR
Contrary to what you might have expected,
these young women were the ones to
insist on giving her some sex appeal,
in a very discreet way, it was the same
for the cut of Heather's slightly curly
hair. Her hair style was the result of
discussions worthy of a hair salon.
SHINGO YURI
Another debate concerned Heather's hair.
In the final version, she has curly hair.
Initially, however, her hair was more
natural, less elaborate.
But my female team-mates thought that
curly hair would be more suitable for a
young girl. And because I know they know
more about fashion than I do, I trusted
their judgment on this.
NARRATOR
Fashion also inspired the team of artists
with an ambiguous design for Claudia.
She's a woman suppose to give the player
the impression of being in danger.
GAME FOOTAGE: Claudia speaking to Heather in the chapel.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
When the team created Claudia, the basic
idea was to make her look strange but
conventional. This subtle concept really
put the creativity of the designers to
the test, as her preliminary sketches show.
MONTAGE: Development sketches of Claudia, all drastically
different from the final design. Most wearing elaborate long
dresses of varying colors.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
As you can see in these drawings the
clothes were originally far more
sophisticated, even Claudia's skin was more
elaborate.
SHINGO YURI
At first one of the ideas we had for
Claudia, was to draw her head shaved and
with tattoo's all over her body.
CLOSE UP: Claudia sketch, she is naked, shaven head, with
only tattoo's on her skin.
SHINGO YURI (CONT'D)
But this way of revealing her malevolent
side was to obvious. We thought we'd
better go back to a simpler idea.
NARRATOR
Inspiration struck when they were
flipping through a fashion magazine.
CLOSE UP: The cover of a fashion magazine, the girl on the
front cover has no eyebrows.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
When they saw this picture, they realized
because she had no eyebrows, they
couldn't decipher her feelings. So they
used this idea for Claudia's face,
although this detail is barely visible it
manages to provoke a subtle, uneasy
feeling.
Shingo Yuri opens the cover of a film soundtrack, and points
out a picture on the inlay.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
The masculine characters in the game like
Douglas, the detective, who was based on
the priest in "The Fifth Element"; were
also created to be like real human beings
with their failings and complexes.
SHINGO YURI
Douglas is an old man, he's losing his
hair. He's going bald and doesn't want
anyone to notice, that's why he combs his
hair back so that nobody will see his
bald spot.
MONTAGE: Still shots of Vincent.
NARRATOR
As for Vincent, he's a hypocrite behind
nice clothes and a neat appearance. The
animator wanted to make Vincent's
hierocracy emerge through the way he acts.
SHINGO YURI
When you look at Vincent's clothes there
is nothing to tell you how hypocritical
he is. On the other hand, he always
laughs like he is hiding something nasty.
Watch his eyes ... when he speaks, you'll
notice that one of his eyes is not
looking at the observer. Take attention,
it's subtle.
GAME FOOTAGE: Vincent talking to Claudia. Paying attention,
you can defiantly notice his "stray eye" as he slowly
approaches.
NARRATOR
And so on and so forth for each
character.
The KCET team didn't set out to invent a
video game hero, but a character that
would be like a person from real life:
vulnerable.
WIDE-SHOT: of Heather and Douglas' voice actors, as they
practice their lines. They are acting out the scene from the
mall, when Douglas first approaches Heather. (Note: I want
to marry the actress playing Heather).
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
That's why they use actors to play the
characters in the game. And to choose
the right actor, auditions are held, just
like a movie. Here's the actress that
played Heather. This is the actress that
was chosen. Actually, the heroine was
named after her because her name is
Heather, Heather Morris to be precise.
MEDIUM SHOT: Heather Morris acting scenes wearing motion
capture equipment.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
Then comes the next step. The actors
really play the game scenes for the
motion capture, which requires
considerable physical and emotional
involvement. Of course the actors also
record the voices of the characters.
Once again every component was geared to
an emotional impact. Like the music for
instance ... Music, the definitive
universal language of feeling.
----------------------------
C H A P T E R T H R E E
La voix de l'ange
(Voice of an Angel)
----------------------------
MONTAGE: Akira Yamaoka as he works in his recording studio.
NARRATOR
The man behind each melody and each sound
in the series, is Akira. He doesn't use
direct inspiration or any reference to
familiar pieces of music; to compose, Akira
allows the emotional content of the
script to guide his fingers.
MONTAGE: Akira jams on his guitar.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
For the first time in the Silent Hill
series, Akira wanted to include songs
with vocals.
To find thee voice, he flew to Los
Angeles. He had a fairly accurate idea
of what he wanted
Interview with Akira Yamaoka, Sound Designer.
AKIRA YAMAOKA
When I went to the audition, I was
looking for a voice like the female
vocalist in the Garbagge band or P. J.
Harvey.
In the background, the solo vocal from the song "Lost Carol"
on the SH3 soundtrack is heard.
NARRATOR
Akira auditioned about fifty candidates,
and when he heard the timber of this
voice, he completely fell under its
charm. In addition to the music, Akira
had to create new and particularly hair
raising sounds. For example lets take
this deep cavernous voice, it was pure
chance that he found it.
AKIRA YAMAOKA
In fact I was looking for a low, deep
voice for the game. One day I was
watching TV, and a program about Voodoo
came on. It explained how a ceremony is
carried out. I could hear all the words
and sounds of this ceremony, I heard a
low, deep voice and I decided to use it
for the game.
GAME FOOTAGE: Heather enters a corridor, on the soundtrack we
can hear the low, deep voice chanting that Akira is talking
about. This chant also appears on the original soundtrack,
entitled "Prayer".
NARRATOR
This manner of discovery may seem strange
but the origin of the sound made by this
monster is even stranger.
GAME FOOTAGE: of the "Closer" monster.
AKIRA YAMAOKA
It's the sound of a rhinoceros. I took
the bass sound made by a living animal,
and mixed it with digital effects to get
the sound used for the monster.
NARRATOR
Monsters as varied, and disturbing as
ever. Straight out of the imagination of
a talented illustrator.
--------------------------
C H A P T E R F O U R
Les monstres de l'enfer
(Monsters of Hell)
--------------------------
MONTAGE: Masahiro Ito sketches a drawing of the "Closer"
monster on a blank piece of paper. Finished, he signs it and
angles it better for the camera frame.
NARRATOR
Each of the monsters in Silent Hill is
there to disturb the player. Ito's
secret is that he refuses to use elements
that are too far removed from the human
being. His monsters don't have horns or
tentacles, their weapons consist only of
deformed human appendages. Here, a head
that attacks. There, swollen heavy arms.
But to arouse the feeling of disgust in
the player, Ito also draws on the
collective unconscious, and the history
of art, for instance, this obese monster.
MONTAGE: of paintings and drawings that inspired Ito. However,
even though he is talking in great detail about this, for some
reason none of this part is subtitled. :(
GAME FOOTAGE: Heather in the mall bathroom at the beginning
of the game.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
This is not the only allusion to
tradition in Silent Hill. Now you are
finally going to understand why the
"toilet" is a recurring theme throughout
the series. In the first episode, there
are toilets everywhere. In the second,
the game begins in a toilet, and in the
third the world seems to turn upside down
as the player "goes through" the toilet.
MASAHIRO ITO
In Japan, there is a tale of horror that
takes place in the toilets. All Japanese
children are familiar with this tale,
that's why we connect the toilets with
fright and horror. That's not all.
Until recently, the Japanese still used
the "squat type" toilet, that looks like
a hole between two footrests, in which
dejections where directly falling. There
was a story that some children had fallen
in and vanished. In a way, the toilet
can be taken as a spooky hole, impossible
to get out of once you fall in. Hence
the connection with horror in Silent
Hill.
NARRATOR
On the same subject of following
tradition, you'll note that there is a
moment in the game where one of the
monsters covers the face of a woman.
MASAHIRO ITO
In many countries, custom dictates that
when a person dies, a veil must be drawn
over that person's eyes. That's the idea
underlying this scene.
NARRATOR
Now it's up to you to figure out this
metaphor in this story. You'll also
have to make sense of the valve-opening
monster that you encounter at regular
intervals throughout the game.
GAME FOOTAGE: Heather climbing a ladder, passing by Bobble
Head who is working at turning valves.
MASAHIRO ITO
Water flows through pipes. Valves are
used to allow or obstruct that flow. In
Silent Hill 3, you go back and forth
between the real world and a parallel
world. Valves that the monster opens and
closes represent the passage between
these two worlds
NARRATOR
Two obscure worlds in which you always
feel lost, always feel surrounded by a
void, always feel full of doubt ... and
doubt is what gives rise to fear.
GAME FOOTAGE: The "Happy Birthday" phone-call scene.
--------------------------
C H A P T E R F I V E
La tentation du doute
(Temptation of Doubt)
--------------------------
GAME FOOTAGE: Vincent speaking with Heather in the chapel
library.
NARRATOR
The creators of Silent Hill had a central
idea: create a hostile world, permeated
at all times by doubt.
Interview with script writer, Hiroyuki Owaku.
HIROYUKI OWAKU
Some philosophies explain that what you
see is not necessarily reality. What you
are seeing may not be what I'm seeing.
The same is true of the monsters that you
encounter in the game. It's the idea
when Vincent looks surprised when Heather
talks about the monsters. Vincent says:
"monsters?" as if they were not monsters
for him.
GAME FOOTAGE: The scene that Owaku mentions
HIROYUKI OWAKU (CONT'D)
Maybe they are human beings just like
you, maybe even your neighbors. What
you see might be true or false
GAME FOOTAGE: Heather inside the confessional at the chapel,
with someone begging for forgiveness on the other side.
NARRATOR
A little bit later in the game, you find
yourself in an unexpected and particularly
disturbing scene. What are you suppose
to do?
HIROYUKI OWAKU
In life, no choice are truly right or
wrong. The idea in the confessional
scene is to make the player chose one of
two possibilities, but neither is right.
If you say to this person telling you her
confession that, yes, you pardon her then
you are lying and, in a way, you justify
her worship of evil. If you say no to
this person trying to save her soul, you
are refusing her the right to be forgiven
and take the weight of her conscience.
The idea is put to you in an
uncomfortable situation, in front of a
choice that will make you uncomfortable.
I have already found myself in a similar
situation and I wanted to share this
experience with the players.
GAME FOOTAGE: The amusements montage.
NARRATOR
All the characters in the game, where
created like this. Like in this
sequence, you never quite know what to
expect. Good and evil are engaged in an
never-ending battle.
MONTAGE: Game footage of each of the main characters.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
So nothing is ever black and white.
Everything is always relative. Including
you, especially when you find out ... who
you really are.
A baby cries on the soundtrack.
FADE OUT
CREDITS
IMAGE
Lionel Sautier
EDITOR
Franck Lepagnol
MIXING
Olivier Mortier / Ladybird Studio
TRADUCERS
Alice Parte (anglais)
Stephanie Fuoss (allemand)
VOICE OVER
Nicolas Beuglet (french)
John Forbes (english)
Werner Kolk (german)
PRODUCER
Guillaume Lubrano
WE Productions
DIRECTOR - JOURNALIST
Nicolas Beuglet
THANKS TO KCET
Akira Yamaoka
Hiroyuki Owaku
Masahiro Ito
Shingo Yuri
Yasunori Kanetake
Yukinori Ojina
Minako Asano
Sachiko Sugawara
Yoshi Aoyagi
Hirotaka Ishinkawa
Heather Morris
Links Digiworks Co. LTD
Kunio Neo
Stephanie Hattenberger
Hans Kohrs
Dave Cox
All the KONAMI FRANCE team
Patrick Bossard and Chisa Kurita
Oliver Pannequin
Copyright WE PRODUCTIONS / KONAMI 2003
=== THANKS ===
Konami - For making such a great sequel.
WE Productions - For making an insightful documentary.
Akira Yamaoka - For the great background music.
PSW Magazine - For actually getting to publish the feature.
=== LINKS ===
You can find me (Parjay) lurking in the Silent Hill forums
at GameFAQs.